The Blaisdell Blog

There are five Presidents who never produced biological children:   George Washington, James Madison, James K. Polk, James Buchanan (our only bachelor President) and Andrew Jackson.   Warren G. Harding had no children in wedlock but did father a daughter prior to becoming President.    There are also several Presidential blood lines that have been ended.   Those are Franklin Pierce, Millard Fillmore, Abraham Lincoln, Chester A. Arthur and William McKinley.   Other lines, like those of John Adams, both Roosevelts and John Tyler seem to go on forever and that leads me to a fascinating story. On August 30, 2018 a ninety-three-year-old man, Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr., walked into the White House.   Lyon’s grandfather was President John Tyler, 10 th President of the United States.   Lyon is the grandson of a man who was President 180 years ago!   John Tyler was Vice President under William Henry Harrison in the 1840 election.   Harrison died one month into his Presidency af

In 1893, a Frenchman, Francois LaBorde, who had located in the Rio Grande Valley near Fort Ringgold, had successfully made his fortune and wanted a house commensurate with the consummation of the American dream.   He had his expansive house designed in Paris and built a small city block from the busy wharfs and piers of the Rio Grande River.   The house, grand in every Victorian sense, was completed in 1899.               The Europeans and Americans who came to the Rio Grande Valley all followed a similar pattern.   They worked hard and married well.   LaBorde was no exception.   He was also typical in that he tried to make sure his children enjoyed a slightly easier path to the American dream than he did via a good education.     His beloved daughter, Blanche, was sent to a Catholic girls’ school in San Antonio.   Despite the dedication of the nuns to, “…the great guiding principles of honor, rectitude, and piety” Blanche met and fell in love with Frank Chapa a scion of the foun